I had a ball in the revised Lexus IS-F we had in last month. Partly because I ran one a year or so ago, so fond memories were rekindled, but also because it felt more hardcore, keener and feistier than the XFR.

This in itself isn’t too surprising as the Lexus is a smaller, lighter car, but I also realised that I’d been pussyfooting in the Jag for the last couple of months while the winter tyres have been on. Two days later I was at Tyres Northampton switching back to the Dunlop SP Sport summer rubber.

Instantly the Jag felt sharper and more precise, keener to turn in and less likely to trigger the traction control on the way out of corners. More than that, I enjoyed the process of rediscovery, of finding handling traits about the XFR that had been covered up for the last three months. Yet another reason to love the big Jag.